The present invention relates to a clip.
A clip of this type is generally known and is used for all kinds of applications. The present invention relates in particular, but not exclusively, to a plant clip. A clip of this nature is described in British Patent 853,558. The structure shown in that patent is composed of a wire material and is intended to delimit an enclosure within which a plant stem can move freely, while the second enclosure can be attached to a support stick, such as a bamboo cane.
A device of this nature is suitable for positioning the stem of a plant in the horizontal plane, i.e. for preventing plants from falling over.
However, if a plant or some other product is to be supported by the clip, it is necessary for the clip, and more particularly the first enclosure, to engage fixedly around the plant so as to clip it in place in order to be able to support (some of) the weight of the plant. The structure which is described in British patent 853,558 is entirely unsuitable for this purpose. This is because if the first enclosure were to be dimensioned so as to engage around the plant so as to jam it in place, the plant would be damaged to an unacceptable extent when carrying out the movement enabling the second enclosure to move along the support structure. Moreover, in the structure according to British patent 853,558 there is a risk of the clip rotating during use, because wire material is exerting a force on the support part in two planes lying one above the other. According to the British patent this is to some extent avoided by attaching all kinds of locking structures, but in practice these locking structures have been found not to provide adequate protection against tilting.
The object of the present invention is to provide a clip which makes it possible not only to clip the second enclosure securely to the support but also to clip the first enclosure securely onto the part which is to be positioned, such as a part of a plant.
The object of the present invention is to avoid the drawbacks mentioned above. This object is achieved by means of a clip as described above.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,716 has disclosed a clip device for a tennis racket. This device comprises two semi-circular parts in which an elastic material is arranged. The semi-circular parts are brought together via a snap-action structure and are locked together with the aid of a xe2x80x9ctogglexe2x80x9d. Consequently, there is no possibility of attaching this to a wire or any other support. The actual clamping force is provided by the xe2x80x9ctogglexe2x80x9d. A component of this nature is expensive to produce and is complicated to operate.
According to the invention, optimum clamping of the plant part or other part is provided by the fact that the inside of the moveable parts which delimit the first enclosure is provided with an elastic material. Naturally, it is also possible for these moveable parts themselves to consist of a resilient material of this nature. As a result, it is possible, on the one hand, to clamp in plant parts of different diameter and, on the other hand, to move the moveable parts beyond the actual clamping position in order, in this way, to create an opening for receiving the support, such as a wire. Since this action involves a considerable physical effort, wing-like extensions which run from the moveable parts which delimit the first enclosure are provided. These wing-like extensions wake the clip easy to install but in no way impair the clamp in use. A particularly compact structure is obtained if these wing-like extensions extend from the moving parts which delimit the first enclosure towards the moving parts which delimit the second enclosure, i.e. (part of) the second enclosure is situated between these wing-like extensions.
The resilient elastic material described above may be any material which is known from the prior art, such as a foamed plastic. It is also possible to arrange elastically deformable ribs on the moveable parts. In this way, it is possible to accommodate variations in diameter of the plant stem which lie within a certain range and to avoid locally excessive pressure on the stem. If the variations are excessively high, it is, of course, necessary to use plant clips of different active diameter. This resilient material, which may be a foam material, is in principle the only part which is in contact with the plant stem. By replacing only this foam material after the plant clip according to the invention has been used, replacement costs for these clips remain low, while the risk of germs and the like being transmitted is largely avoided. The user merely has to replace the resilient elastic part.
According to a further embodiment of this structure, the connecting part where the imaginary hinge point of the plant clip lies is designed so as to consist only of the said resilient material. As a result, the remaining parts can be relatively rigid and the pivoting movement can be optimized.
If a plant clip with a relatively rigid wire is used, it is important, in the event of high levels of load caused by the plant, for it to grip a wire of this nature well. In order to allow the spring force realized by the resilient nature or the plant clip to act even more effectively, it is proposed to arrange barbs in the C-shaped parts which delimit the second enclosure. By suitably arranging the plant clip according to the invention, it is possible to move this clip along a wire when such a wire is pulled upwards as a result of it being attached, for example, to horizontal plant wires in a greenhouse. If, by way of example, two plant clips according to the invention are used, it is possible to remove the bottom plant clip as the plant grows, to move the wire to which these plant clips are attached upwards, sliding this wire along the top plant clip, which then becomes the bottom plant clip, and then to allow the removed plant clip to act as the top plant clip. Moreover, it is possible to arrange barbs in the first enclosure, which barbs act in the axial direction, provide the plant with further support and prevent it from subsiding out of the clip without the overall pressure on the stem increasing too much. In practice, it has been found that a local increase in pressure of this nature does not have any real adverse effect on the plant.
According to an advantageous embodiment, at least three xe2x80x9cteethxe2x80x9d are present in order for the support, such as a wire or stick, to engage between them. In this case, two of these teeth are arranged on one of the moveable parts, an opening being left between these teeth in order to receive the other tooth so as to delimit the second enclosure.